What to do during an 8 hour stop over in London?

Hi all,

I'm sure someone has done something similar so thought I'd ask here.

Have a 8 hour stop over in London on the way back to oz Thursday. Will be landing in from Ireland into T3 with ba and flying on from t5 to Sydney. Was thinking of heading into the city for a hour or so to have a walk around. Any suggestions on best way to get in to the city, would it be the heathrow express?

Also can I simply check my bags through and take my carry on bag with me into London. Flying F with BA which means I have the Concorde room for many hours to lounge but thinking 8 hours of even that is too much. Any suggestions / tips would be great. In assuming I could simply go back to the F checkin area in T5 to Check in again after coming back from the city.

Heathrow Express would defintely be quickest. Should take you less then 30m. Not sure about bag.

You could just get a cab and head into Windsor.  Only 15 minute ride and you'd be able to take in Windsor Castle, or walk to the Thames at Eton, see the Eton school there, walk the banks of the river, do some shopping, etc.  Windsor is a nice leafy place to spend 3-4 hours and not so far from T5.  I'd be worried about going into central London if anything went wrong with transport

I agree, even 8 hours in the Concorde room is too long!

You should be able to have your checked bags go straight through from your T5 to T3 flights.

I love the suggestion of 521303 of hopping a cab to Windsor, have never done that myself!

Heathrow Express is a gem for nipping into the city. Get off at Paddington, head left up the ramp (past all the smokers enjoying a gasper!) into Paddington itself, youll be coming out onto Praed Street - then turn left and two minutes walk is a bus stop from which you can jump onto a bus into the city - by memory the 7 and 23 both head via Edgeware Road to Marble Arch (edge of Hyde Park, which is quite nice itself) then trundle down Oxford Street to Oxford Circus and the interseciton of Regent Street. I love just wandering around here, browsing the shops and soaking up the atmosphere of being right in the heart of London, but the traffic can get congested in the late arvo/early evening... so leave yourself enough time to get back to Heathrow or, as suggested above, just check out the Windsor area for a different and more relaxed take on London.

LovetoFly,

What interest you? I'd pop in to the National Gallery or National Potrait Gallery, which are free. St Martin in the Fields nearby does excellent (free) lunchtime concerts. Afternoon tea in Fortnums is another indulgence. You get proper clotted cream with scones there! 

The biggest IF for me is whether you can check your bag through from Ireland (or is it Norther Ireland?) to SYD.  If you can't check it all the way through, most checkin counters don't open till 3 hrs before the flight, except for QF2 which opens 5hrs before.  However, there is a left luggage service in each terminal at Heathrow, run by "Excess Baggage Company" which charges £9 per item for 4-24 hrs, so you should be okay.

Head to a late lunch at the River Cafe, 12 miles from Heathrow

Flying First on BA ....you are always welcome to start the occasion at Harrods. Tower of London is also good value if you wish to see the Queens crown etc, and doesnt take long to get through either.

Agree with the comments about popping in to Fortnum and Mason for morning or afternoon tea, we did that 3 months ago and was something that was good to experience, have also done the Windsor Castle trip, also recommended as well as a trip to the London Eye.  Any of these would give you time between flights.

I'd also be interested in hearing about your experience of F in BA, we'll be doing that on BA16 next month.

Hi all,

Thank you for replying to my original question and for your suggestions of what to do.

I ended up deciding to just go straight to the concorde room before my flight. The main reason was that It was just allot easier to tag my bags all the way through from Dublin to Sydney and then head over to T5. My flight was delayed a little from Dublin so it was almost a hour after i had thought id be over there that i actually was in.

I ended up booking a cabana room for a few hours in the Concorde room so it gave me time to chill out and get a little sleep while I was there. The rest of the time i simply spent relaxing eating top class food and doing some plane spotting (which theres loads of in Heathrow) I also availed of a relaxing massage.

I thought the BA F product was great, the new F seat was really comfortable especially as I am 6ft4" tall and quiet broad, i definatley felt comfortable for the long flight. I would however rank Qantas F ahead of BA in both service and food on board from LHR - SYD. However from LHR -SYD BA have the better lounge from T5 and also I think a more comfortable seat. If I was to do it again I would probably go with Qantas though on the A380 as it felt to me more like what a F experience should be like. I actually flew Etihad J class from Mel - Dub which was good also.

Thanks again for the replies.